Cannes Cinéfondation Atelier unveils selected projects

Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska, Greek director Sofia Exarchou, Turkish director Emin Alper, Romanian diretor Marian Crisan and Serbian director Pavle Vuckovic new projects are among the 15 feature-film projects (and 16 filmmakers) from 15 countries that have been selected for the 16th edition of the Cinéfondation Atelier, which will take place as an integral part of the 73rdCannes Film Festival (12-23 May), preparations for which are still in full swing, although all eyes are obviously on any new developments in the coronavirus epidemic.

The most prominent of them is The Happiest Man in the World by North Macedonia’s Teona Strugar Mitevska, whose latest opus, God exists, her name is Petrunya,was unveiled in competition at Berlin in 2019 before scooping the European Parliament’s LUX Prize.

Also included in the showcase is the project Balkaya by Turkey’s Emin Alper, whos film A Tale of Three Sisters was in competition at Berlin in 2019.

Another project on the line-up is Animal by Greece’s Sofia Exarchou, who turned a lot of heads with her feature debut, Park, which was unveiled at Toronto before coming out on top of the New Directors section at the 2016 San Sebastián Film Festival.

Also among the selected projects is Le serviteur by Romania’s Marian Crisan, who won the Special Jury Prize at Locarno with Morgen.

After having risen to fame with his first feature, Panama, which got a Special Screening as part of the Cannes Official Selection in 2015, Serbia’s Pavle Vučković will be heading to the Atelier clutching his project Frost, which has already been singled out with a Eurimages Co-production Development Award.